THE CASE OF THE BONSAI MANAGER - LESSONS FROM NATURE ON

GROWING
The Case of the Bonsai Manager happens to be one of the few books that I
happened to read because of a strong recommendation from a budding
entrepreneur in the process of scaling up his venture. He was empathetically
speaking about the central theme of the book and how he could relate it to
himself and his employees. He found the book deeply thought provoking and
had left him thinking how he could move himself out of what the author
called the Bonsai trap.
That was somewhere towards the mid of 2007 when the book had just been
published. The time gap between the recommendation and when I actually
happened to read the book was almost of two years. This time around an
article in a leading daily recommended the book as one worth reading and
owning it too. I am happy to have done just that.
Before I get into why one should be reading the let me tell you a few
things, the books has been criticized for. It has been criticized for its casual
language, grammar and punctuation. Some people found the premise
interesting but the execution and presentation far from desired. There are no
groundbreaking strategies included and most of the topics are reinforced
with personal experiences rather than statistical studies. Another major key
concern is that the bonsai manager issue is not delved into with great depth
and most of the time you might not find a link between one and the other
chapter. For this I would give the benefit of doubt to the author for leaving
loose ends for the reader to tie it up. For what sense does it make if someone
offered you a fruit and ate it for you as well. And more importantly if you
want to move out of the Bonsai trap then you have to get out of your
comfort zone and develop yourself to read between the lines.
Barring the few things the book has been criticized for it makes an
interesting read. The style is simple and feels more of conversation with the
reader and at times with self.
In his foreword to Gopal's book, The Case of the Bonsai Manager - Lessons
from Nature on Growing, Ratan Tata refers to 'the ingenious insights and
lessons Gopal draws from Nature to emphasise the importance of imbibing,
developing, listening to and trusting intuition to develop the confidence to
take that leap of faith which risk-bearing decision entails.

The book is based on the premise of the stunted growth and for the author
the bonsai tree developed by Japanese just happens to be a perfect example.
The reason why Japanese invented the bonsai was lack of space that made it
difficult for them to grow trees. The bonsai tree is tree in every sense except
growth. It gets stunted after a period of time. This precisely where the author
picks it up from and establishes parallels with managerial growth through a
different perspective.
One can connect with perspective when one reads the following excerpt.
The message is that the 'space' in which a manager grows is extremely
important. This space around his job is defined by the manager by four
perceptions: 1. The nature of the industry, 2. The type of work he does and
his role and within his organization, 3. The people relationships he is involved
with and 4. The threats or obstacles he faces and has to overcome.
If the space in which the manager operates and grows is limited, if his
emotional and mental exertion are low, then his development gets stunted.
If he stays in this stultifying situation for long and does nothing to change his
circumstance, then he can become a permanently stunted manager!
Just as the growth of the crocodile depends on the diet and the space
available, the growth of a manager too is influenced by his 'mental' food
(reading, training, and people challenges) as well as the experiential space
(new experiences and tough assignments that disturb him from his comfort
zone). Nobody sets out to become stunted manager. Yet stunted managers
do exist, in large numbers.
Because of inadequate challenge and learning arising from working at the
grassroots of company operations, young managers can get stunted in their
growth at a very early stage of their career. The truly big and successful
managers are set to solve problem after problem, they are constantly
challenged to swim upstream against the tide so that they learn and grow
fast.
The Case of the Bonsai Manager, thus manager warns us of managers being
stunted only after a few years into the role, thereby stopping them from the
growth that they are destined to like that of the Bonsai plan if they do not
nourish themselves. There are various characteristics exhibited by Stunted
Managers which would help in identifying such people in an organization.
Most of us face these kinds of situations in our life where we lose our initial
enthusiasm towards work and start to crumble in the mundane and

redundant nature of our work. The book explains how we start off with great
aspirations but lose our way in between, we stop learning and end up as
stunted managers.
To emphasize this, the author draws a parallel between the complexities in
nature and those in management. He also draws upon his experiences as a
manager and shares anecdotes which support his theories.
He describes intuition (or instinct) as an unconscious process, unlike
analysis, which is a conscious process and is at the centre of the minds
thinking. The unconscious memory, (he calls it BRIM-the brains remote
implicit memory), is very valuable for developing and strengthening instincts.
The book cleverly switches from the behavioral theories of animal kingdom
to those of human. It shows an intersection of nature with management. It
shows that there lessons to be learnt from everywhere. The book makes the
reader reflect upon the anecdotes and draw a few memorable lessons.
The book reflects authors journey of self-awareness and self-discovery. He
advocates that good leaders overlay the unknown facts with their gut feel
and instinct, which they consciously develop through keen listening,
reflection, contemplation and mentoring.
All said and done, I loved the book, probably because I was moving towards
the stunted managers' category and this book helped me realize that fact.
The last chapter of the book is the best where it mentions that nothing in
nature follow a straight line, all of them are spiral. From the great galaxies to
the minutest DNA to the smoke let out from a cigarette, all follow the spiral
pattern. As in nature, our careers also will not have a straight line from where
we are and what we want to be. It will have its twists and turns, the ups and
downs but if we strive through it with the willingness to learn and without
arrogance, we will surely reach where we aspire to be.